Search Within This Page

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival
material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are
physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available
through the World Wide Web. See the
Duplication Policy section for more information.

Funding from the State Library of North Carolina supported the encoding of this
finding aid.

William Lea (1777?-1873), was a merchant of Leasburg, N.C. He had three sons: Willis
M., who became a physician and settled in Mississippi; Lorenzo, Methodist minister
and teacher in Tennessee and Mississippi; and Solomon (1807-1897), Methodist minister
and schoolmaster at Boydton, Greensboro, and Leasburg. Solomon's six daughters included
Adeline, Lilianne, Eugenia, and Wilhelmina (1843-1936). The collection includes letters, 1812-1820s, consisting of family correspondence of
William Lea (1777?-1873) and his brothers, Vincent and James, all merchants, writing
from Leasburg, N.C., Petersburg and Norfolk, Va., and New York City, chiefly about
business matters, prices, economic conditions, debts, current news, and other topics.
Letters, 1820s-1850s, are chiefly between William Lea and his children and among the
children. Willis M. Lea wrote from Philadelphia, where he was studying medicine, and
later from Holly Springs, Miss. Solomon Lea was a student at the University of North
Carolina and later lived at Boydton, Farmville, and Greensboro, N.C. Letters from
1861 onwards are chiefly correspondence of the daughters of Solomon Lea, most written
by Wilhelmina from the various places where she taught school, including Louisburg,
Olin, and other places in North Carolina and Murfreesboro, Tenn., and at the Marshall
Institute in Mississippi. Volumes are ledgers, 1797-1803, of William Lea (1751-1806),
merchant of Leasburg and uncle of William (1777?-1873); school accounts, 1853-1862,
of Solomon Lea, who taught at Somerville Seminary and founded Somerville Female Institute
in Leasburg and was president of Greensboro College, 1846-1857; and reminiscences
and a 19-volume diary, 1872-1934, of Wilhelmina Lea.

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or
confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy
laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. §
132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of
State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.).
Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to
identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent
of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under
common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's
private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable
person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no
responsibility.

The following terms from
Library of Congress Subject
Headings
suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the
entire collection; the terms do
not usually represent
discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or
items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's
online catalog.

William Lea (1777?-1873), merchant at Leasburg, N.C., was the son of Gabriel Lea (1756-1834).
Gabriel also had a brother William who was a merchant.

William Lea (1777?-1873) had three sons: Willis M., who became a physician and settled
in Mississippi; Lorenzo, Methodist minister and teacher in Tennessee and Mississippi;
and Solomon (1807-1897), Methodist minister and schoolmaster at Boydton, Greensboro,
and Leasburg. Solomon was president of Greensboro Female College, 1846-1847, and operated
the Somerville Female Institute at Leasburg from its founding in 1848 until 1892.
William Lea, Jr., was a merchant at Petersburg, Va.; Addison was also a Methodist
teacher and preacher, mostly in Tennessee; William's daughter Anness was the wife
of Yancey Wiley of Oxford, Miss.

Solomon's six daughters, including Wilhelmina (1843-1936). The other daughters were:
Anness Sophia, who married Leon Richmond; Henrietta, who married M. C. Thomas; Adeline,
who married B. L. Arnold); Lilianne, who married T. C. Neal; and Eugenia, who married
Calvin G. Lea. One son died in infancy and one son never married. Three of Eugenia
and Calvin G. Lea's daughters married Dunlaps.

The Lea family papers includes letters, 1812-1820s, consisting of family correspondence of
William Lea (1777?-1873) and his brothers, Vincent Lea and James Lea, all merchants, writing from Leasburg, N.C., Petersburg, Va., Norfolk, Va., and New York, N.Y., chiefly about business matters, prices, economic conditions, debts, current news, and other topics. Letters,
1820s-1850s, are chiefly between William Lea and his children and among the children.
Willis M. Lea wrote from Philadelphia, where he was studying medicine, and later from Holly Springs, Miss. Solomon Lea was a student at the University of North Carolina and later lived at Boydton, N.C., Farmville, N.C., and Greensboro, N.C. Letters from 1861 onwards are chiefly correspondence of the daughters of Solomon
Lea, most written by teacher Wilhelmina Lea from the various places where she taught school, including Louisburg, Olin, and other places in North Carolina and Murfreesboro, Tenn., and at the Marshall Institute in Mississippi. Volumes are ledgers, 1797-1803, of William Lea (1751-1806), merchant of Leasburg and uncle of William
(1777?-1873); school accounts, 1853-1862, Solomon Lea, who who taught at Somerville Seminary and founded Somerville Female Institute in Leasburg and was president of Greensboro College, 1846-1857; and reminiscences and a 19-volume diary, 1872-1934, of Wilhelmina Lea.

Folder 1

Folder 2

Folder 3

Letters, 1812-1820s, are family correspondence of William Lea (1777?-1873) and his
brothers Vincent and James, all in the merchandizing business. William was at Leasburg
in Caswell County, N.C., and his brothers wrote from Petersburg, Norfold, and New
York, chiefly about business matters, prices, economic conditions, debts, current
news, and other topics. Letters, 1820s-1850s, are chiefly correspondence of William
Lea with his children and correspondence among the children. There are letters from
Willis M. Lea studying medicine at Philadelphia in 1826, and practicing medicine at
Holly Springs, Miss., in the 1840s; letters from Solomon Lea as a student at the University
of North Carolina, 1829 and 1832, and later letters from Boydton, Farmville, and Greensboro;
letters from Addison Lea at college in Boydton, 1836; and letters written at Jackson,
Tenn., and Aberdeen, Miss. There is a letter from Peter Doub in Greensboro, 17 March
1848, and one from E. F. Rockwell in Statesville, N.C., 19 April 1847. Letters from
1861 onwards are chiefly correspondence of the daughters of Solomon Lea, most written
by Wilhelmena ("Miss Willie") at the various places where she taught school, usually for only a few months at
a time: Louisburg, N.C., 1866-1867; Olin, N.C., 1868; home, 1870 and 1880; Soule Female
College in Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1871; Marshall Institute in Mississippi, 1871.

Somerville Institute, Leasburg, N.C., pupils' accounts for board, tuition, and supplies,
probably of Solomon Lea (1807-1897), who taught school at Leasburg, was president
of Greensboro College, 1846-1847, and founded Somerville Female Institute at Leasburg.

School register with names of pupils, their parents, addresses, and date of entering
school, probably of Solomon Lea (1807-1897), who taught school at Leasburg, was president
of Greensboro College, 1846-1847, and founded Somerville Female Institute at Leasburg.

Ledger and other accounts of the Somerville Seminary at Leasburg, accounts at Greensboro,
accounts of purchases of books and other supplies at Philadelphia, and other accounts,
probably of Solomon Lea (1807-1897), who taught school at Leasburg, was president
of Greensboro College, 1846-1847, and founded Somerville Female Institute at Leasburg.